AI Supercharges Scams
Easy Prey
Cybercriminals are accelerating their attacks in ways that weren’t possible a few years ago. Artificial intelligence is giving them the ability to spin up phishing campaigns, voice clones, and deepfakes in minutes instead of days. As a result, the gap between what’s genuine and what’s fake is closing fast, making it harder for both individuals and organizations to defend themselves. I’m thrilled to welcome Brett Winterford, Vice President of Okta Threat Intelligence. Brett has had a front row seat to these changes. His team analyzes identity-based attacks and delivers insights to help...
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Vanishing is a Lie
Easy Prey
Trying to erase yourself from the internet sounds simple until you start counting up old accounts, scattered social media posts, and the hundreds of data brokers quietly collecting and selling your information. The reality is messy, and for most people, the idea of fully disappearing online is more myth than possibility. But there are practical steps you can take to cut down what’s out there and regain some control. My guest, Max Eddy, is a senior staff writer at Wirecutter who covers privacy, security, and software platforms. For one of his projects, he set out to see how much of his own...
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Hackers Are Winning
Easy Prey
Cyberattacks aren’t just about hackers in hoodies anymore. Today, we’re up against professionalized, well-funded organizations that run like businesses. They use AI to crack defenses, run labs that simulate the tools we rely on, and rake in trillions while defenders struggle to keep pace. The scary part? Even the strongest companies and governments can fall behind when the threat landscape moves this fast. My guest, Evan Powell, has spent nearly 30 years in the cybersecurity world. He’s the founder and CEO of Deep Tempo, and a serial entrepreneur who’s helped industries from cloud data...
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Before the Fraud Tsunami Hits with Ritesh Kotak
Easy Prey
Scams aren’t what they used to be. These days, AI can write perfect emails, mimic voices, and even fake a video call so well you’d swear you were talking to the real person. The problem is, the timing of a scam can be just right when you’re distracted, busy, or looking for exactly what they’re offering. That’s when even the most careful person can get caught. My guest, Ritesh Kotak, knows this world inside and out. He’s a cybersecurity analyst, an Ontario lawyer, and a tech innovator who’s worked with Fortune 500 companies and served in policing, where he helped start one of...
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Privacy is Dead
Easy Prey
Privacy in the digital age has grown from a background concern into one of the defining issues of our time. What began with simple questions about online safety has expanded into a complex, global conversation about how artificial intelligence, biometric data, and massive data ecosystems are reshaping daily life. Pam Dixon has been at the center of these discussions for more than two decades. As the founder and executive director of the World Privacy Forum, she’s worked across the U.S., Europe, India, Africa, and beyond, advising governments, international organizations, and policymakers on...
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America’s Scam Crisis
Easy Prey
Most of us think of scams as random or isolated or something that just happens to unlucky people. But what if the truth is far more organized, far more disturbing? Behind many of today’s scams is a global web of criminal enterprises, structured like corporations and fueled by technology, data, and billions of stolen dollars. In this episode, we sit down with Ken Westbrook. Ken spent over three decades in the CIA before retiring, only to return to the fight after his own mother was targeted and lost most of her life savings to a tech support scam. That moment changed everything. He founded...
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How Fraudsters Choose Targets
Easy Prey
It’s easy to think of fraud prevention as a technical problem with a software solution. But according to Brian Davis, effective fraud defense is just as much about people, trust, and communication as it is about tools and data. With over a decade of experience, Brian has built fraud teams from scratch, shaped company-wide strategy, and helped growing startups shift from reactive to proactive risk management. Brian is the Head of Fraud at Dodgeball, where he’s helping bring their orchestration platform to market, and the founder of House of Fraud, an invite-only community where top fraud...
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Hidden Dangers of AI in Cybersecurity
Easy Prey
Everyone’s talking about AI these days, especially in cybersecurity. Sure, artificial intelligence can boost your defenses, but cybercriminals have noticed too. Now they're crafting phishing emails so believable it’s scary and finding clever paths around spam filters while zeroing in on vulnerabilities you didn’t even realize were there. Today, Aviad Hasnis joins the show. He's the CTO of Cynet Security and spent years running cybersecurity missions for the Israeli Defense Forces. Aviad’s here to help us figure out what the changing threat landscape really means, whether...
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Author Scams Exposed
Easy Prey
Writers pour their hearts into their work, but unfortunately, that passion can make them prime targets for scams. From fake agents and vanity publishers to slick marketing schemes and social media impersonators, the tactics have only gotten more sophisticated over time. In this episode, we dig into the murky world of publishing scams and how they work and who they target. Along with why even experienced authors can get caught off guard. Today’s guest is Victoria Strauss. Victoria is the author of nine fantasy and historical novels for adults and teens, and she’s also the co-founder of...
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Tricked by Followers and Badges
Easy Prey
What if your social media success was built on deception, and it was working? In today’s episode, we hear from someone who knows exactly how that happens. Tim O’Hearn is a former software engineer and the author of Framed: A Villain’s Perspective on Social Media, a book that pulls back the curtain on how follower factories, automation, and persuasive technologies have shaped the online world we now take for granted. Tim doesn’t just theorize, he built these systems himself. Tim walks us through how his small side gig growing Instagram accounts evolved into a lucrative business, one...
info_outlineSynthetic IDs can be used to open fake accounts, but without a person to file the fraud claim, how should companies deal with this type of deceit? There is no crime where someone doesn’t need to pay for the loss. Either way, the loss is passed on to the consumers in some way or another.
Today’s guest is Steve Lenderman. Steve is currently the Head of Fraud Solutions North America at Quantexa and has over 25 years of experience in financial crimes investigation. His previous roles include being the Senior Vice President of Fraud Prevention Investigations at Bank Mobile Technology, the Director of Strategic Fraud Prevention at ADP, and the Fraud Operations Lead for PayPal Business Loans. He is a certified fraud examiner and actively contributes to the anti-fraud community.
Show Notes:
- [1:07] - Steve shares his background and what his current role is at Quantexa.
- [4:04] - For those who are interested in a career path in cybersecurity or fraud, Steve has some tips.
- [6:07] - What is synthetic identity? Steve describes what it is and why we should be concerned about them.
- [8:59] - Although still mostly built around financial data, synthetic IDs have also morphed into other nefarious uses.
- [10:56] - All fraud in general is underreported, but synthetic IDs are extremely underreported, so data is not accurate, although still very high.
- [12:37] - Synthetic IDs can be used to open a credit card and then after several purchases, fraudsters leave the card open and unpaid.
- [14:21] - Some think that synthetic IDs and fake accounts are victimless.
- [18:59] - To understand how fraud works, Steve had to create synthetic IDs.
- [22:15] - Over the years, it has gotten even easier to do, which is alarming.
- [25:13] - Credit repair using a CPN is illegal fraud using synthetic IDs.
- [26:40] - Synthetics are all built around data and the ease of collecting data in the last few years has increased the ease of creating them.
- [27:57] - Criminals have learned that they can use synthetic IDs in more ways and in more industries.
- [31:04] - Small businesses are particularly easy targets for synthetic ID use.
- [33:16] - It is possible for synthetic IDs to also be used to create a new business.
- [34:53] - Technology has also made it possible for a deep fake to be created to match a synthetic ID.
- [36:49] - A lot of synthetic IDs are created with unused credit.
Thanks for joining us on Easy Prey. Be sure to subscribe to our podcast on iTunes and leave a nice review.